Referees gear up for TSL

A meeting held at the Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) headquarters on Sunday has set the pace for referees in the Telekom S-League with SIFF General Secretary, Eddie Ngava announcing a new pay structure for match officials officiating in the S-League matches.In line with outcomes from the meeting a fitness test was held at Lawson Tama yesterday and the results, according to local referee instructor, Matthew Taro, are pointing in the right direction.“The outcome of the test yesterday is very good. All the referees we expected to pass have done so excellently and for some more work needs to be done to get up to speed,” Taro says. “I will be working hard to ensure that the fitness of referees for the Telekom S-League is kept at the right level because this is the premier competition in Solomon Islands and we want our referees to perform without any fitness issues.”SIFF referee development officer, Justin Mutukera, says that his office and senior instructors will be allocating referees according to trio or teams of 3 referees headed by a referee and 2 assistant referees.This system is the similar with the one used in O-League matches and has been quite successful so it was seen fit for it to be employed for the Telekom S-League.“The trio system is good because it encourage all referees in the team to train together and, therefore, help each other with their fitness and technical understanding of the FIFA Laws of the Game,” Mutukera says.At the moment 6 trios for a total of 18 referees have been prepared for Telekom S-League comprising of FIFA and non-FIFA badge holders, most of whom are based in Honiara.Mutukera and his team of instructors are also committing themselves to creating a competitive environment for referees to keep the refereeing standard high with match to match assessments of the performance of match officials.“Another benefit of the trio system is that we are able to assess referees as part of a team rather than as individuals,” Mutukera says.Tomorrow the team of Telekom S-League referees will hold their first technical workshop in preparation for the Telekom S-League matches which are kicking off this weekend.

About SIFF

Football is officially recognised as the national sport in the Solomon Islands. With numerous competitions running year-round, the Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) has a busy time ensuring the game continues to grow and develop. SIFF was founded in 1978 and became a full FIFA member in 1988 largely thanks to the late Alan Boso who saw the potential of Solomon Islands football. Since then the association has grown from strength to strength.